Click here to write a letter to McDonald's to ensure fair wages

Background

I will be swift to bear witness ... against those who oppress the hired workers in their wages, the widow and the orphan, against those who thrust aside the alien, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts (Malachi 3:5).

There is, today, a human rights crisis in America's fields. Farm workers at the bottom of the fast food industry supply chain toil from dawn to dusk in exhausting and hazardous working conditions. Yet at the end of the day, it is a wage insufficient to provide food and shelter for their families.

Farm workers for Florida-based tomato companies earn 40-45 cents for every 32-lb bucket picked. At that piece rate, a worker must pick 2 TONS of tomatoes in a single day to earn $50. They work 10-12 hour days without the right to overtime pay for overtime work, the right to organize, health insurance, or benefits of any kind. In the most extreme conditions, farm workers are held captive and forced to work against their will in modern-day slavery. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers, a Florida farm worker organization, has uncovered and assisted the FBI and U.S. Department of Justice in successfully prosecuting five slavery rings since 1997, freeing more than 1,000 workers. Our faith compels us to speak out against such gross economic injustice and look for change.

In March of 2005, the CIW reached a groundbreaking agreement with Yum Brands (Taco Bell's parent company) to improve wages and enforce a code of conduct for working conditions in Taco Bell's tomato supply chain. This agreement has brought about fairer wages and increased dignity for farm workers picking tomatoes for Taco Bell and set tremendous precedents for corporate social responsibility. The CIW and religious, human rights, and community leaders have called upon McDonald's to similarly work with CIW to address abuses in its own tomato supply chain.

However, McDonald's has refused to work with the CIW and responded to this human rights crisis with a public relations campaign, partnering with an agricultural industry-led group to put forth an empty code of conduct that excludes farm worker participation and does not address subpoverty wages. After widespread criticism of this plan, McDonald's commissioned a study, conducted by the Center for Reflection, Education, and Action. The first part of this study, released in April, attempted to silence the voices of the CIW farm workers by putting forth faulty and extravagant wage figures. More than 30 labor, law, and social science scholars have signed a statement calling the McDonald's study "so riddled with errors both large and small that it cannot be accepted as factually accurate on virtually any measure." Moreover, former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich criticizes McDonald's study for "preempting a fair process of engagement with CIW."

As Christians, we stand with these workers in witnessing against unjust corporate structures and practices because we believe that all human beings are created in the image of God. We believe that all people have worth and value by virtue of our creation and existence, and that economic systems must exist to serve the human person, not the other way around. We believe that all people have the right to participate in the communal decisions that affect them.

We call upon McDonald's to work with the CIW farm workers to improve wages and implement and enforce a code of conduct for conditions in its tomato supply chain.

The CIW was featured in the May 2006 Sojourners special issue on food. To read the article, click here.

To learn more about the Coalition of Immokalee Workers, click here.

To learn more about the Alliance for Fair Food, click here.

To learn more about The Covenant for a New America, Sojourners/Call to Renewal's comprehensive vision and campaign to overcome poverty, click here.